1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the generation of programmes made up from a series of programme elements each of which is represented by a data packet. Individual programme elements may define for example single images or series of images or audio passages. The programme elements may be distributed in pre-recorded form, or transmitted to a recipient provided with equipment for recording programme elements for subsequent replay.
2. Related Art
Before the advent of recording equipment and in particular video recorders, programmes were produced and distributed via the atmosphere or cable and simply reproduced by recipient's receivers. There was no possibility whatsoever for a recipient to control the received programme over and above turning the receiver on or off.
Video recorders made it possible for a recorded programme to be viewed selectively in that a recording tape could be advanced to a part of the programme of interest which could then be viewed, it not being necessary to view every element of the programme recorded on the tape. Video disc players were then introduced in which individual programme elements were separately indexed such that each programme element could be rapidly accessed as compared with a video tape storage system. There was no fundamental difference however between tape and disc systems in terms of the degree to which a user could interact with the recorded programme in that the user had to know where on the recording medium programme elements of interest were located and thus required knowledge of which programme element was recorded where on the recording medium. Programme elements were recorded on the basis that each programme element was allocated to a particular position on the recording medium, access to any one programme element in essence requiring an index in which programme element identity is related to storage medium position.
Interactive video programme are now available in which programme elements are stored in the memory of a computer and programmes are produced which in part are dependent upon actions taken by an operator of the computer. (The term “memory” is used herein to include solid state, disc, CD and any other form of data storage capable of storing programme elements). For example a computer game may display images to a user which are read out from the computer memory, the user may then take actions appropriate to the displayed image, and depending upon the actions taken by the user the programme content will change. For example the user may “kill” an adversary depicted on the computer monitor's screen, the actions taken by the user to kill the adversary determining the nature of the sequence of images and associated audio output generated by the computer. Thus there is a limited degree of interaction between the user and the programme in that the order of presentation of stored programme elements is dependent upon actions taken by the user, but essentially the user does no more than determine which route is taken through a complex set of alternative routes defined by the computer so as to produce a series of images corresponding to that route. The user has no way of knowing what the next programme element to be displayed will be, unless the user has played the game a sufficient number of times to learn the response of the computer to a particular control input.
Viewers cannot “edit” programmes with current systems. There are often circumstances in which a viewer of a programme knows the kind of elements of a programme which will be of interest and which will not, and yet a viewer cannot make selections of programme elements of interest even from a recorded programme without a detailed index that describes the nature of each programme element which is recorded at a particular position in a recording medium.
There are circumstances in which it would be highly desirable for a user to be able to edit programme content. In many circumstances, particularly in the case of broadcast sports programmes, potential viewers of those programmes are really interested in only relatively small sections of a broadcast sporting event. For example, with live broadcasts, sections of high interest value, for example the scoring of a goal, are often repeated at the expense of not broadcasting passages of play which are relatively uninteresting, for example the period leading up to the game being restarted after the scoring of a goal. The perceived value of a broadcast programme is considerably enhanced by such “action replays” but it is frustrating for a viewer not to be able to decide which sections of a game to replay and to be forced simply to accept what is broadcast by the programme producer.
It is often the case that elements of real interest in a sporting event could be delivered over a relatively slow communications channel the bandwidth of which is insufficient to carry a full live broadcast of the event. Thus, bandwidth restraints are a real limitation of broadcast television systems. Furthermore, the resolution available with standard personal computer display screens is far greater than that available with a standard television receiver, and this can be a severe limitation in some circumstance where images of great detail are required to enhance viewer appreciation. The available resolution cannot be used however with broadcast programmes given the limited resolution of the broadcast images. At present, the only way that enhanced quality images can be made available is by the distribution of programme material on disc, and clearly such an approach would not generally be appropriate for ephemeral events such as sports fixtures.
It is an object of the present invention to provide improved methods and apparatus for generating a programme in order to address one or more of the problems outlined above.
According to the present invention there is provided a method for generating a programme for presentation as a sequence of programme elements from a set of pre-recorded programme elements, wherein the programme elements are classified on the basis of programme element content such that each programme element is allocated to at least one of a predetermined set of classes, each programme element is stored with at least one associated programme classification code, each classification code identifying a class to which the associated programme element has been allocated, and a programme is generated by selecting at least one programme classification code and presenting programme elements associated with the said at least one programme classification code.
Programme elements may be classified by reference to a type of event to which the element relates, for example a shot on goal or the scoring of a goal in a football match. Alternatively, programme elements may be classified by reference to a subjective assessment of the value of the programme element, for example the level of excitement generated by a particular passage of play in a football match. Thus the classification codes can be used to give information to a user of the system which is not merely defined in terms of the position of a particular event in time but rather to the nature of the event itself.
Programme element selection which is required to generate the programme presented to a user may be controlled automatically by applying predetermined selection criteria, for example by repeating stored programme elements sequentially so as to only present programme elements with a predetermined classification value. Alternatively, programme element selection may be controlled by an operator of a display device connected to the system. For example symbols may be displayed representing the class of each stored programme element, and the operator may select programme elements by selection of associated symbols. Symbols may be displayed in an order corresponding to a temporal order of events presented by the associated programme element.
The operator may select a sub-set of the classes, and symbols corresponding only to programme elements of that sub-set may be displayed. Programmes may be generated comprising a plurality of programme elements which are presented simultaneously, for example in the form of combined video and audio programme elements or combined video and still image programme elements.
The programme elements may be delivered to an end user on a data carrier such as a tape or CD but generally will be transmitted to and stored at a user's receiver with the associated programme classification codes. Programmes are then generated by selection of classification codes at the receiver.
Only programme elements associated with a sub-set of the classes may be transmitted to the receiver, the sub-set being selected by a user of the receiver. Alternatively, only received programme elements corresponding to a sub-set of the classes are stored at the receiver, the sub-set being selected by a user of the receiver. Thus a user can filter out programme elements with a perceived value of less than a certain threshold either by transmitting a control signal which prevents programme elements that are not of interest being transmitted to the receiver at all or by discarding received programme elements with a perceived value of less than the threshold.
Received programme elements may be combined with pre-recorded programme elements store on a data carrier in a memory device of the receiver so as to enhance the perceived value of the generated programme. For example images related to a particular golf course can be combined with images and audio related to live elements at that golf course.
Although the invention is applicable in circumstances in which a communications channel used to transmit programme elements has the capacity to carry a continuous live broadcast of for example a sporting event, the invention is applicable in circumstance in which communications channels do not have such a capacity. When using such channels, it will take longer to send a programme element representing a particular event than the time occupied in the generated programme by that programme element. This is not a problem however as programme elements can be repeated such that a continuous programme can be generated.
The invention also provides a method for generating a programme for presentation at a receiver by transmitting a stream of programme element data packets and associated programme generation control data to the receiver, storing the programme element data packets and associated programme generation control data at the receiver, and generating a programme by reading out the programme element data packets in a manner dependent upon the programme generation control data, the programme element data packets being read out such that the duration of at least one programme element in the generated programme is less than the time taken to transmit the data packet of that programme element from the transmitter.
Thus, although in the preferred embodiment of the invention individual programme elements are associated with classification codes selected on the basis of the content of the individual programme elements, classification codes do not have to be generated and instead it is possible simply to transmit control data which enable programme elements to be repeated so as to produce a continuous generated programme despite the fact that programme elements are transmitted over a communications channel of limited capacity. Programme generation may be controlled automatically in accordance with a predetermined routine or by a user of the receiver to whom the control data is displayed so as to enable programme element selection.